


Maelstrom

by girlgamer



Category: Naruto
Genre: Fix-It, Gen, I don't know where this fic is going but I'm happy it went at all, I finally wrote something here after a two year draught, I have no plan Naruto has no plan we are dumb of ass but true of heart, Panic Attacks, Rejoice, Rinnegan User Uzumaki Naruto, Sage Mode (Naruto), Sage Uzumaki Naruto, Time Travel, Time Travel Fix-It, Warring States Period (Naruto), but the point is, climbs atop a teetering pile of Jason Todd wips, look I don't make the decisions around here except when I do which is always, no beta we die like Minato sacrificing his soul to a Shinigami, no beta we die like Naruto accidentally time travelling away from his demise - oh wait, only it's not called that coz ninja land before time here we go, ootsutsuki heritage, references to Post Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-03-13
Updated: 2021-03-13
Packaged: 2021-03-16 00:49:02
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,441
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29692500
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/girlgamer/pseuds/girlgamer
Summary: There's a world of danger out there for someone with eyes like Naruto's.There's a world of danger out there for someone with chakra like Naruto's.There's a world of danger out there for someone with a heart like Naruto's.Especially in a world changing its rules as fundamentally and quickly as this one.There's a world of threats out there for a being like Kurama, surrounded as he is by the mortals who he used to view as utterly insignificant and beneath his notice, he learned that lesson hard.There's a world of threats out there for a fox who's been caught too many times already.There's a world of threats out there for a bijuu with something as fragile as a human to protect.But they've faced threats and dangers before.
Comments: 2
Kudos: 17





	Maelstrom

**Author's Note:**

> I fell back into Naruto fandom over the course of covid lockdown as a comfort thing because it's one of my oldest fandoms and then I got inspired.

When Naruto wakes up he's surprised that he's waking at all.

 _Kurama?_ He whispers in his mind, eyes still shut as he stretches his thoughts out towards awareness. He thought Kaguya had... How are they still alive?

He's being carried off somewhere he realises absentmindedly, the swaying motion quick but stable, he wants to bury himself into the contact, the arms holding him, it's soothing somehow, touching someone in a way that doesn't have anything to do with a fight. The war's been so busy the last while that it feels like it's been a long time since he got something soft. Not since Hinata had held his hand.

**You've really done it now Kit.**

_wha-_ he's about to open his eyes and take stock of his surroundings when he feels a push of instinct from Kurama telling him that that's a bad idea for some reason.

 **Go back to sleep Kit, it'll be safer for you if they see you completely unaware for as long as possible. They'll be less paranoid and wary of you if they know they had you vulnerable.** Now _that_ sends a burst of panic running through his gut, it's not Kakashi-sensei or one of the other shinobi in the alliance carrying him? **Sage knows you need the rest anyway after facing Her.**

_Who though? If who sees me unaware Kurama?_

**Trust me, you're gonna wanna wait until you have enough energy to process it brat.**

_I... okay but, but you'll keep an eye out right?_ He feels a little embarrassed to be asking Kurama to keep him safe while he sleeps, like he's a scaredy cat kid wanting a security blanket, but well Kurama's his friend right? So it's basically just like letting a teammate take a night watch or something and he'd never have a problem doing that, and he doesn't think he can fall back asleep otherwise no matter how much he aches mind and body, knowing now that he's in the hands of strangers. _And you'll wake me if - if something happens?_

He feels more than hears Kurama's heavy sigh curl around his mind like a gust of wind, **Yeah Naruto, I'll handle it.**

Naruto sighs internally too, and let's himself relax enough to actually feel the exhaustion he's been stubbornly pushing down, he's as safe as he's gonna get right now and he's too tired to do anything even if he wasn't, Kurama's got him. 

_Kay_

He falls back to sleep with the echoing sensations of warm fur brushing against him and strong arms holding him close as he's rushed to places unknown through the treetops.

* * *

  
Tobirama calculates that the boy he'd found at the outskirts of their borders has been unconscious for almost 16 hours now.

Besides severe chakra exhaustion the boy has no injuries that the team of medic nin from the hospital can find, despite the fact that the worse for wear state of his clothing suggests he was in a serious fight before he passed out.

The medics transferred enough of their own chakra to him to stave off the worst of the exhaustions' effects and give him time to recover naturally, but even they are unsure why it's taking so long for that recovery to happen, at least enough for him to wake. 

So Tobirama is waiting, but he is patient and more than that he is curious and admittedly a little paranoid when it comes to all the why's and how's behind the young man before him so he will endure the wait without protest.

As per the endless amounts of protocols that he's still helping to write, he'd assigned a patrol to scout around where the boy had been in an effort to find whoever it was that he had been fighting. Or failing that, a clue to their (and his) identity, but so far the reports coming in have made it clear that there was no sign of anyone there that the team could catch - nor even a sign of there having _been_ anyone there to search for.

He's not too surprised about their lack of success considering that as far as his skills as a sensor could tell, in one moment there was no one within the boundaries of their land that shouldn't have been and in the next there was a weak fluttering life force present within the outskirts. Something like that isn't normal.

He found him close to the borders of the village's land yes but not so far out that he wouldn't have had some warning to indicate the intruder's approach towards the village in the first place.

And Tobirama's the best sensor in his generation, certainly the one with the farthest range, he can sense everything in the Land of Fire when he concentrates and extends it past the mere bounds of their peaceful Konohagakure. Him not feeling someone, let alone a shinobi - no matter how weakened, coming their way before they arrived should have been impossible.

If he didn't know better he'd say the young man must've used hiraishin or something like it to appear so suddenly and yet, he does know better and the boy doesn't have anything on him that would facilitate something as rare as a space/time ninjutsu, in fact all that the boy has on him are the clothes on his back and a few kunai. 

He's also unconscious and _young_ so naturally Hashirama won't even consider preparing him for a session with their experts in the newly established T and I department.

Not that Tobirama particularly wants that, he doesn’t like interrogating or harming children, but it's common knowledge that they’re usually the best distraction and hesitation cards the Clans can use against their enemies so it only makes sense to be prepared when dealing with them.

Even if that's thankfully not how things are done in Konoha. Nor even how things were done in the Senju once his brother became Clan Head, with Hashirama in charge and pulling more than his fair share of weight on the battlefield, children were no longer sent out to fight their battles for them. That's one thing Madara has in common with him besides their strength - one of the few things in Tobirama's opinion.

So no that wasn't his preferred method for dealing with the boy, he was just listing options after Hashirama had asked him for his opinion on necessary precautions for dealing with the unknown adolescent in their midst and inadvertently triggered his brother's insane protective streak, so now the Intruder is resting in the lap of luxury within the Senju compound (their home!) with Tobirama guarding him and a team of medic nin checking him over every couple of hours. _Hah._

The boy is silent in his sleep, breathing soft despite how heavy his rest is. 

When Tobirama had warily attempted to ambush the intruder only to find a sleeping teen curled limply around the roots of a tree, energy so low he seemed as if he might die from chakra exhaustion at any moment if he didn't receive aid quickly, he'd thought much the same, the boy sleeps too lightly - as if he could wake at any moment no matter how deep his slumber, and it sets Tobirama on edge. It's a big part why he's been forgoing his own rest to stare at him and wait.

If it goes over 24 hours he will swap out with a large team of guards and then he will rest.

The boy whines in his sleep and Tobirama's eyes snap back to him, only for the brat to quieten again peaceably. 

He examines the headband they found him wearing again, lighter than he expected it to be in his hand, it has, rather redundantly in Tobirama's opinion, the symbol for shinobi carved into it.

He tosses it back on the bedside table and wonders if it means anything or if it's just the boy's way of making it clear to people he's unaffiliated with one of the new villages even if he is a shinobi. He can't decide whether that idea is smart or stupid, it depends on whether it catches on he supposes, or how many of the clans choose to stay independent now that things have changed.

Judging from the flood of incoming clans that is only now, just under a year after the founding of the village, slowing to a trickle, and the reports they've had of the other villages' growth, Tobirama doesn't think it will be many.

The black and orange haori coat the young man is wearing is mostly intact but is tattered and jagged, almost serrated, at the ends where it hangs by his waist, from blades and - judging from the more singed edges of fabric - katons.

Regardless of how he came to be here and what he'll have to say on the matter when he wakes, Tobirama is certain there was a fight and he wants to know every detail that the stranger is prepared to part with.

The intruder looks unlike anyone Tobirama has ever met before, he has strange clan markings like black whiskers across his cheeks and his hair is blonde and spiky. Uncannily like Tobirama's own spiked hair in texture if not in colour.

But although he's blonde, it's emphatically not the pale platinum Yamanaka blonde he's become accustomed to seeing in the last year, or even the ochre and umber hair tones Tobirama has encountered before in the few blonde shinobi hailing from the Land of Wind, the boy's colouring is brighter by far, yellow and golden and strange, like everything else about him.

His kunai are well made, if slightly worn from use, better crafted than Tobirama's own despite their state. _Strange, strange, strange,_ Tobirama's thoughts pulse.

The only other remarkable thing about the teen that Tobirama can find are the tattoos on the palms of his hands, a black crescent moon on the inside of his left hand and a white sun on the inside of his right.

Despite their simple stylised look they remind him of seals for some reason.

"Otouto you're not _still_ trying to glare the poor child awake are you?" Hashirama asks as he waltzes in through the open doorway.

Sage give him patience, 'the poor child' really? Tobirama sighs.

"Do you have anything you actually need from me right now anijia?"

His elder brother's face predictably falls and he slumps gloomily, "Can't I just come to spend time with you for something besides village matters?"

"Considering I'm currently monitoring a village matter, the answer is no."

Hashirama huffs at him but brightens again a moment later, "Have you figured anything out yet?"

Tobirama narrows his eyes at the unconscious young man again, "No I haven't, it's very suspicious."

"You think babies are suspicious," Madara says as he enters the room, Tobirama doesn't find it in himself to reply to that attempt at joking and there's a long and awkward pause where the two of them examine each other warily, before Hashirama purposefully interrupts. 

"Hahaha he's got you there Tobira." Hashirama grins warmly down at him, Tobirama decides the most sensible thing to do is ignore them both for now, Hashirama turns to his friend. "Madara!" He exclaims.

"Yes, Hashirama." The Uchiha replies quietly with a note of exasperation in his voice.

"Do you have any ideas for what we should do with the boy?"

This is Hashirama's latest tactic, constantly asking Madara's opinion on even the smallest of matters not directly under his purview as a clan head. It's like he thinks he can sidestep the idea of eventual Niidaime Uchiha past Tobirama's objections so long as he eases his friend into the role beforehand.

At least this time even Madara appears to find it ridiculous.

"No Hashirama, considering we still don't know anything more about him there's nothing else to do but wait and act accordingly."

Hashirama beams at his friend as if he's said something very wise.

The Uchiha and Tobirama unwittingly share a sigh before glaring at each other in surprise. If possible, Hashirama beams wider.

Unfortunately if his well meaning sibling believes that forcing them to bond over dealing with him is enough to get past their differences, Tobirama will have to disappoint him.

He turns himself slowly and obviously back to the boy in order to refocus the conversation, "I'm unfamiliar with the clan markings on his face and the orange and black gear isn't indicative of any group or clan I'm familiar with either."

"Could he be clanless? The marks on his face may just be birthmarks." Hashirama points out.

"That's excessively unlikely, they're far too symmetrical for that anijia, when I first saw them I thought they were examples of the cosmetic scarification some of the clans go in for, but I've checked and it's just his natural skin, it has to be a heritage of some kind-" He notices one of his own hands unconsciously drifting halfway to one of the three red lines that had expressed themselves during his adolescence, all that he had to show of their mother and her now extinct clan, before he fluidly changes the motion into an adjustment of his headband without pause.

"-The fact that we don't recognise it doesn't mean much, young Sarutobi Hiruzen has a clan marking at the corners of his eyes that apparently hasn't surfaced in their clan since his great grandfather had them, whereas the likes of the Noharas and the Inuzuka each share identical marks with their clanmates so long as they're of the blood." He listed off, "And the Akimichi markings vary from individual to individual unless they're half blooded in which case their marking follows their akimichi parent's or they don't have one at all... There's just too many possibilities. I suppose there's the option that they're tattoos of some kind too, but I doubt it."

He gives a shake of his head, "Either way anijia us being unfamiliar with his facial markings doesn't mean he's clanless, just as him having birth marks doesn't equate to him being an official member of one, he could just be a distant descendant of a family with those marks for all we know. They're good for identification in the field if you recognise where they come from but we don't, right now the lines on his cheeks don't tell us anything about him aside from the fact that they exist."

He sighs, "There's also the fact that his kunai are better made than our standard issue ones even though we're contracted to the best blacksmiths in the Land of Fire." He glances back to meet his brother's gaze over his shoulder, "And I don't know what that means."

"Is he not from the land of fire then?" Hashirama asks.

He shrugs carelessly, "Perhaps. Perhaps not."

They pause to digest the facts of the situation, "He looks very young." Hashirama says quietly, it's not the first time he's said it since Tobirama brought him back.

"Not that young." Madara says. "He's almost grown."

"Still..."

" _Anijia_." Tobirama manages not to snarl the word, but his tone still comes out sharper and more irritated than he'd like, he suspects the mild sleep deprivation is getting to him more than he'd like to admit so he takes a deep breath before continuing, "You can't be serious, even you have to admit that an unknown popping up already INSIDE our borders should be treated with the utmost caution no matter their appearance or relative youth. Be rational."

"But Tobi-"

"No anijia, the village is still new and we need to be on our highest guard while we strive to achieve stability for it."

"But he's clearly not plotting anything," Hashirama exclaims, gesturing to the boy with a wave of his hand, "he's unconscious and chakra exhausted!"

"That doesn't mean he didn't intentionally come here in the hopes of being brought into the village for some purpose. Of course we have no proof of intent positive or negative so we'll act on the information we have rather than possibly misplaced suspicions but we can't just dismiss a stranger's potential for harm out of the gate."

"I recognise that but he might just as well have intentionally come here seeking aid or shelter from whoever he fought. We shouldn't dismiss his potential for innocence out of the gate either Tobirama." 

"That's not what I'm saying-"

"I know that's not what you're saying but I-"

"Then why can't you understand that I'm trying to follow the rules we already agreed to to protect-"

"I do understand, I understand completely Tobirama it's just-"

"The boy's about to wake." Madara says flatly.

Tobirama turns to him and sees he's activated his sharingan and is examining the boy, for all the world looking as indifferent as he can to their argument.

The subject of that argument is still sleeping but after a few more moments he can see what Madara meant, his long blonde eyelashes are slowly beginning to flutter now and then and he's starting to stir a bit under the thin blanket loosely thrown over him.

It's when there's a lull in this activity and Tobirama thinks the boy's about to succumb back into heavier rest now that the sounds of people talking has ceased to disturb him... that his eyes suddenly open completely and meet his.

Tobirama hears his elder brother gasp above his shoulder beside him and feels Madara stiffening.

The boy, oblivious to their shock jerks back and away from them, backing hastily into the corner wall the bed's pushed against.

His eyes, light purple eyes layered with black concentric circles around his pupils, are flicking between the three of them in obvious panic, knees halfway to his chest under the blanket, hands trying to push himself further into the corner despite the lack of room to retreat to.

The young man's obvious distress at the situation conversely has the effect of shaking Tobirama from his own surprise and enabling him to calm down, he leans back in his chair.

"Well, that's unexpected." He hears himself murmur the words more than consciously chooses to speak them.

His mind is already ticking through the ways in which this changes and doesn't change the situation at hand but it's at this point that Hashirama decides to involve himself.

He immediately moves closer to the boy hand half outstretched in an obviously half baked plan to reassure or comfort him as is his instinct in any given situation where there is an obvious upset.

The teen's lilac eyes widen as his panic starts to develop into a full blown case of combat hysteria, tremors shaking down his spine and breaths beginning to speed up and stutter. 

Hashirama immediately freezes and pulls his hand back which is a good call, they should back off for now Tobirama thinks, they don’t know what this terrified stranger is capable of when quite literally cornered - especially one with that dojutsu. 

The boy’s shoulder’s have barely untensed at Hashirama’s retreat but Tobirama’s watch is careful enough to know for certain that they did, just slightly.

“Should I put him under a genjutsu to calm him?” Madara suggests. Tobirama considers it, it might-

“No.” Hashirama says sharply. Sharp in the way he only is when he’s serious about something.

The boy blinks, gaze darting once again between the three of them, his face is drawn tight with worry in his brow and well hidden fear in the down turn of his lips and his pale cheeks. But the eyes are so distractingly different from anything Tobirama’s seen before that they make it difficult to further examine his emotions. His breathing has evened somewhat and though he is still shaking slightly it is now mostly hidden by the blanket drawn over him and the two walls supporting him.

A smart one then, good at hiding his weakness in unexpected territory once he has his bearings.

Hashirama inhales deeply once before giving him a light push on the shoulder Tobirama yields his seat easily, moving to stand at Hashirama’s left while he sits down and shoots a kind smile across at the boy.

“Hi there,” He says, the youth watches him quietly from his corner, shoulders still drawn tight and wary, though the eyes themselves still unreadable, “We’re sorry for startling you like that, I’m Hashirama. What’s your name?”

The unknown shinobi is silent for a long moment biting his lower lip as he considers.

“I’m Naruto.” He says moments later, tone almost shy.

Before he adds belatedly, the word clumsily rushed from between his lips, “Hi.”

Hashirama grins.

* * *

* * *

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> On the Clan Marks:  
> Content warning for me discussing the reasons it wouldn't make sense to tattoo a baby even if they're a ninja baby.
> 
> For this fic I went with Clan Markings being an actual physical trait that can be inherited here instead of them being Clan Tattoos - I mean it's either that or literally every academy age student we see in flashbacks with them, gets tattooified as a toddler or a baby in Konoha which yikes.  
> I guess I could see the Ninja doing that anyway coz they're hardcore but still, it doesn't really make sense to me as a practice.  
> And I mean we see Kiba at the same age as Naruto and Hinata around the time when she first met him after he saves her from being bullied right? And at that point kid! Kiba already had the markings even though he's like, very very little, so any younger and he would be a literal rugrat when he gets tattooed and if you tattoo a baby on their delicate baby skin that's A. pretty evil and also B. irreversible disfigurement and in modern society it's super illegal for many **many** good reasons but it also doesn't make sense in the longterm of the manga or show because of the stretch on the tattoos which, again, yikes! So, birthmarks it is.  
> And I think judging by the episodes dealing with the Shiin clan in the north (The one that had the issues with Orochimaru making a village in their territory and basically driving them into poverty? Yeah that one) that clan specific ninja tattoos can actually be pretty rare anyway considering the reactions to theirs even if it was a special 'only shows after water touches the skin' tattoo.  
> I've also read fic where Tobirama's markings are seals he placed himself to help with his fighting somehow which is interesting too and I definitely love that headcanon but it's not the route I decided to take here.
> 
> In Naruto's case he's utterly unique at this point in the timeline as a child exposed to a bijuu's chakra continuously in the womb from conception to birth and one who became the jinchuriki of the same bijuu on the day he was born.  
> There's no one else like him right now and there never has been so obviously the Warring States Trio have no way of knowing the real reason or cause for the whisker marks on his cheeks. They're working with limited information so it's fun.
> 
> If I do succeed in updating this, the second chapter will likely be from Naruto or Kurama's perspective

**Author's Note:**

> So, I may very well never continue this fic considering the amount of wips in other fandoms I haven't continued despite wanting to - but I wanted to toss this chapter out into the void because I liked writing it and hoped peeps could get enjoyment or inspiration from it if nothing else. 
> 
> I do hope to continue this fic soon but I won't make promises.
> 
> Please leave a comment.


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